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Cognitive Concepts. (1997). Earobics: Auditory development and phonics program [Computer software]. Cambridge, MA: Author. Emanuel, D. C., Ficca, K. N., & Korczak, P. (2011). Survey of the diagnosis and management of auditory processing disorder. American Journal of Audiology , 20 (1), 448–60. Ferre, J. M. (2006). Management strategies for APD. In T. K. Parthasarathy (Ed.), An introduction to auditory processing disorders in children (pp. 161–186). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Fey M. E., Richard G. J., Geffner, D., Kamhi, A. G., Medwetsky, L., Paul, D., … Schooling, T. (2011). Auditory processing disorders and auditory/language interventions: An evidence-based systematic review. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools , 42 , 246–264. Gardner, M. Y. (1997). Test of auditory perceptual skills – Revised . Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. Hind, S. (2006). Survey of care pathway for auditory processing disorder. Audiological Medicine , 4 , 12–24. Kamhi, A. G. (2011). What speech-language pathologists need to know about auditory processing disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools , 42 , 265–272. Logue-Kennedy, M., Lyons, R., Carroll, C., Byrne, M., Dignan, E., & O’Hagan, L. (2011). Services for children with central auditory processing disorder in the Republic of Ireland: Current and future service provision. American Journal of Audiology , 20 , 9–18. McArthur, G. M., Ellis, D., Atkinson, C. M., & Coltheart, M. (2008). Auditory processing deficits in children with reading and language impairments: Can they (and should they) be treated? Cognition , 107 (3), 946–977. Scientific Learning Corporation. (1998). Fast ForWord [Computer software]. Berkeley, CA: Author. Sharma, M., Purdy, S. C., & Kelly, A. S. (2009). Comorbidity of auditory processing, language, and reading disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research , 52 (3), 706–722. Strong, G. K., Torgerson, C. J., Torgerson, D., & Hulme, C. (2011). A systematic meta-analytic review of the evidence for the effectiveness of the “Fast ForWord” language intervention program. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 52 (3), 224–235. Speech Pathology Australia (2003). Scope of practice . Available from: www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/ library/Core_Assoc_Doc/Scope_of_Practice.pdf Wallach, G.P. (2011). Peeling the onion of auditory processing disorder: A language/curricular-based perspective. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools , 42 , 273–285. Wilson, W. J., & Arnott, W. (2012). Evidence about the effectiveness of interventions for auditory processing disorder. In L. Wong & L. Hickson (Eds.), Evidence-based practice in audiology: Evaluating interventions for children and adults with hearing impairment (pp. 283–308). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing. Wendy Arnott is a lecturer in speech pathology and Wayne Wilson is a senior lecturer in audiology at the University of Queensland. Caroline Henning is a speech pathologist now working in private practice who has worked extensively as a researcher with Wendy and Wayne on studies in the areas of (C)APD and language and literacy disorders.

In addition to direct language treatments, SLPs teach children with (C)APD a range of compensatory strategies, with requesting repetition or clarification being deemed the most effective. A range of environmental modifications are also implemented with checking a child’s comprehension of verbal information, visual supports, repetition or rephrasing of verbal information, preferential seating in the classroom, and pre-teaching new information/vocabulary being seen as the most effective. Emanuel et al. (2011) reported such strategies are widely recommended by audiologists in the United States, although to date there is no evidence confirming any benefit from these strategies in children with (C)APD. With respect to treatment outcomes, all except three SLPs surveyed indicated that they routinely measure the outcomes of their interventions with children with (C)APD; however, there was little consistency with respect to the measurements used. Most clinicians (58%) favoured standardised measures such as the Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills – Revised (TAPS-R) (Gardner, 1997). The present findings indicate that auditory processing deficits are not easily remediated. The amount of time taken to treat children with (C)APD varied, with approximately one-third of clinicians reporting that treatment takes over 18 months. Further, approximately 60% of SLPs indicated that at least 50% of children with (C)APD still required treatment after being discharged. There are some limitations to the study. All participants did not complete the full survey which is acknowledged as a limitation of the present study. Twenty-five percent of participants skipped some items, particularly the open- ended questions. As a result, some items only had a small number of responses. Further, participants’ open-ended responses often lacked detail and the survey did not allow respondents to explain why they found the specific treatments to be effective or ineffective, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the reasons these treatments were being used. Finally, it is important to acknowledge that the results reflect only the practice of Queensland SLPs. Accordingly, further research is needed to determine whether the present findings are consistent with SLP management of children with (C)APD elsewhere. Conclusions Queensland SLPs’ management of children with (C)APD is generally consistent with the recommendations made in the literature, with most clinicians treating the language and literacy deficits associated with the disorder rather than focusing on specific auditory deficits. The present study also shows that these SLPs are using direct treatments involving individualised language, phonological awareness, and phoneme discrimination tasks with children with (C)APD, as well as compensatory strategies. Researchers and clinicians now need to work together to gather evidence that will support or reject the use of these treatments and strategies. Acknowledgements This research was funded by a Speech Pathologist’s Board of Queensland Enhancing Clinical Practice Grant awarded American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2005). (Central) auditory processing disorders – The role of the audiologist [Position statement]. Available from www.asha. org/policy. Arnott, W. L., Henning, C. A., & Wilson, W. J. (2014). Screening and assessing for (central) auditory processing disorder and the role of the speech-language pathologist: A survey of Queensland clinicians. Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology , 16 (2), 66–72. to the first author. References

Correspondence to: Wendy Arnott School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences The University of Queensland

Brisbane 4072, Australia email: w.arnott@uq.edu.au

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JCPSLP Volume 16, Number 2 2014

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